State orders harbor boats to switch to cleaner engines

CALIFORNIA

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, November 16, 2007

California took a pioneering step toward cleaner air Thursday, requiring that certain high-polluting harbor craft - ferries, excursion boats, tugs and tow boats - be fitted with cleaner engines within the next two to eight years.

Air Resources Board officials believe California is the first state to adopt such a measure for harbor boats, which typically employ high-polluting diesel engines. Although the four types of boats to be regulated account for only about 15 percent of the state's 4,200 harbor craft, they represent about 50 percent of harmful emissions, according to the air board. The new rule does not apply to recreational boats or oceangoing vessels.

Regulators said the rules will cut harmful diesel soot and some smog-forming emissions by 40 to 50 percent by 2015. The board estimates that about 90 premature deaths are associated with commercial harbor craft emissions each year in California.

Ferry operators in the Bay Area seemed generally supportive, or at least accepting, of the new rule, while operators of excursion craft and tug boats complained of the burdensome expense of replacing the engines by the measure's deadlines. Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups had pushed for strict rules and deadlines.

Generally, the final deadline for ferries in the Bay Area to replace the older engines will be Dec. 31, 2014, while owners of the other vessels have until Dec. 31, 2016. Cleaner engines will be required by 2022.

The specific timetable for meeting the new rules varies according to the age of the engine, type of craft and location. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have accelerated deadlines because of serious air-quality problems there, said air board spokeswoman Karen Caesar.

Boat owners who meet deadlines early may qualify for state funds to pay for 50 percent or more of the cost, Caesar said.

The cost of replacing the engines will vary with each craft, but state officials estimate that complying with the new rules will cost operators $140 million.

"The purpose of the regulation is to improve the air quality of the (surrounding) communities," said Cheri Rainforth, the air board's manager of control strategy.

Mary Curry, spokeswoman for Golden Gate Ferry, said the agency has already upgraded three ferries and has plans to replace engines in the other two well in advance of the deadlines.

In addition, Curry said, passage of the new regulation provides the specifications that the agency needed to proceed with building its new 499-passenger ferry.

Carolyn Horgan, vice president of operations for the Bay Area's Blue & Gold Fleet, which operates 13 excursion and ferry craft, said, "We agree that the old engines should be removed. It's going to be difficult economically, but we're aware of it and we're going to plan for it."

San Francisco's Hornblower, which operates about 30 boats in the state, including 14 in San Francisco Bay, was less welcoming. Spokeswoman Tegan Firth said the regulations should not be the same for all craft. "We don't think they're necessarily being applied fairly across the board."

She said that the company's five high-use tour boats to Alcatraz Island already have the cleanest-burning engines available, but that imposing equally strict requirements on some of its older, less used ships will have a serious financial impact.

She noted that the company operates John Wayne's former private yacht. "It would be unfortunate if this legislation made us take that boat out of service," she said.

Jason Lewis, a vice president for American Waterways Operators, a trade association for tugboats, towboats and barges, said the regulations need more flexible deadlines for smaller businesses and for those who would have to replace many engines at once.

He also said the expense of meeting the new rules could leave some smaller ports with less service. "The companies right now are really looking to determine if the benefits of doing business in a market like San Diego outweigh the cost."